


Boogerbrain is a term of endearment

by Arlene0401



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, so much pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-27 02:18:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arlene0401/pseuds/Arlene0401
Summary: When you meet your soulmate in a kindergarten restroom at age 5, things can only go down from there.





	Boogerbrain is a term of endearment

**Author's Note:**

> For erejeanweek 2019, day 1: Soulmates

Jean rinsed his hands with water and made it a point to not dry them off too thoroughly - Ms Ral was not above inspecting your hands after potty break and sending you back if she thought you hadn’t washed them.

He was just about to exit the boy’s toilet when he heard running footsteps and the door was thrown open with such violence it hit the other wall. If Jean had stood in the way, he would be as flat as one of his mother’s crêpes now. Startled, he backed away and pressed himself against the nearest cubicle door.

The intruder looked around with wild eyes. It was the new kid, Jean hadn’t properly caught his name yet. Eric, or Emmett? He was sickly pale, his mouth hanging open in shallow pants. Ms Ral was hot on his heels.

“Move over,” the boy wheezed and frantically gestured for Jean to make way. Jean expected Ms Ral to reprimand him - manners were _important_ , she always said, and regularly reminded the children to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ - but then the boy retched pathetically.

“Ew, don’t barf on me!” Jean crossed the room in a millisecond to get as far away as possible.

Edgar (or Enzo, or maybe Erroll) whizzed past him, and Jean stuck his fingers in his ears and quickly went outside so he wouldn’t hear him barf. He felt a little lightheaded, and the soulmate mark on his upper arm tingled, something it had never done before. Hopefully that new kid hadn’t brought any dangerous germans into Jean’s kindergarten. Some germans could give you really nasty illness. Armin loved to sneak into his grandfather’s study and rifle through the bookshelves, and last month he had found an illustrated medical dictionary and grossed everyone out with tales of worms that crawled under your skin and diseases that would make your eyes bleed. Maybe there was some kind of bug that caused your mark to fall off? But the strange feeling already faded, and then he saw Ms Brzenska in the reading corner with the big book of fairy tales on her lap and several children lounging by her feet. Story time was his favorite time of the day, and he bolted to share his customary cushion and blanket with Connie, the sick new boy already forgotten.

**********

“Hey, Boogerbrain.”

Jean’s only reaction to the customary insult was swinging his gym sack against Eren’s legs, and the boys set off towards their bus stop in companionable silence.

Jean had been disappointed when his parents sent him to a posh private school instead of the public elementary school right around the corner. He had been even more disappointed that rich doctor kid Eren - or Barf Breath - went to the same school. Instead of being classmates with all his friends like Connie and Sasha he had to share a bus, a class and even a table with the person he claimed to hate most in the world.

Much to his own aggravation, it was strangely soothing to be forced to coexist with his nemesis. The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t, and a school full of yuppie larvae was easier to face when someone had your back. Eren may tease him relentlessly, but the Lord have mercy on anyone else who tried to pick a fight with Jean. It worked the other way round too - Jean could feel his hackles raise whenever someone was cross with Eren.

Today, Eren sported a black eye from yesterday’s brawl. Jean wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but it had started with him accidentally bumping into an older kid, the kid shoving him back and grabbing for his sleeve, and suddenly Eren being there with flying fists. It ended with said black eye, Jean’s uniform shirt torn and both of them in detention.

Hesitantly, Jean reached into his jacket pocket for the paper bag his mother had given him. “You want a cookie?”

Eren’s eyes lit up. Jean’s mother made delicious French cookies, with thick cream and just a hint of lemon, crispy and tender and addictive.

“That guy was reaching for your mark,” Eren suddenly said around a mouthful of sugary goodness.

Now Jean understood why Eren had reacted so violently. Soulmate marks were something intimate, nothing to be shown around or talked about. It was for the eyes of your soulmate and immediate family only. To forcibly reveal another person’s mark was a tremendous insult. Warmth spread in Jean’s chest that his friend guarded his honour.

Because despite being an insufferable menace, that’s what Eren was. His friend.

**********

Eren was an asshole, and Jean never wanted to see his face again. Granted, it was a handsome face ever since puberty had hit him like a ton of bricks. Granted, neither of them had found their respective soulmates yet. Granted, there was this strange kind of… _chemistry_ between them lately. Granted, it had been kind of nice when a playful banter led to a playful wrestling match on Eren’s bed, which ultimately led to Eren pinning his arms to the mattress and leaning down with hooded eyes until their lips almost touched.

Jean’s heart had hammered like crazy, but then _of course_ Eren had to say something idiotic and completely ruin the moment. “It’s okay to fool around a little when you haven’t met your mate yet, right?”

Jean couldn’t exactly say what he wanted them to be. But he definitely didn’t want to be just someone to _fool around with_. Someone who Eren killed time with until he found his Happily Ever After.

With Herculean effort, Jean pushed Eren away and left. A month later, he still refused to talk to his friend. He was hurt and confused, and while avoiding Eren was painful, it was still better than being around him. Feeling things he shouldn’t, thinking of things he couldn’t have.

His soulmate better hurry up and enter his life already, free him from conflicting emotions and bring him peace of mind. What would they be like, he wondered. Smart, beautiful, kind? Although, according to his soulmate mark , they were probably a rude ass.

A rude ass like Eren.

**********

First week of college, and Jean felt like shit. He had been ill many times in his life, but this bone-deep chill, this constant ache in every joint was like nothing he had ever experienced before. Trust him to run down with the worst case of freshers flu in history when he had classes to attend, things to organise and people to meet. He spent the weekend in bed, but instead of getting better he felt worse. It didn’t help that his dorm room felt cripplingly lonely and empty. He had never lived alone, always been surrounded by family and friends. Technically, there were dozens of other students in the building, but Jean felt like he might as well be alone underground. No mother or father to feel his forehead and bring him hot tea. No siblings to get on his nerves, no friends to cheer him up.

No Eren.

Things between him and Barf Breath had never been the same again, and they had rarely hung out together outside school. But now they had gone to separate colleges it was a harsh but glaringly obvious truth that he missed him. They had been around each other since early childhood, and parting ways without so much as a phone call or letter seemed so wrong. And yet Jean didn’t know what to do. After everything that had happened between them, he couldn’t just casually call Eren up, could he?

As soon as the shops opened, he haphazardly threw on some clothes and wobbled to the nearest pharmacy. Of course he had run clear out of painkillers. Not that they helped much in the first place.

“Jean? Jean Kirstein?”

He squinted, the sun too bright for his aching head. A woman had just exited the pharmacy as he was drawing near. She looked vaguely familiar, although the association he had was a younger face.

“You probably don’t remember me. I’m Petra Ral - one of your kindergarten teachers.” Her face was a bit rounder now, softer, a few silver strands in her hair, but now he recognised her and managed to nod a greeting.

She frowned. “Jean, you look awfully ill - what are you doing outside? If you have any errands, can’t your mate do them for you?”

“Mate? I don’t have one yet.”

“Oh honey, but of course you do. Don’t tell me you -” Ms Ral stopped mid sentence and sighed. “Okay, we’ll get you some medicine, and then I’ll accompany you to your home and make some tea for you, does that sound good?”

Even if Jean had the strength to protest, she wouldn’t budge anyway, so he just gave up and let himself be escorted into the pharmacy and back to his dorm, where she ushered him into his bed again.

Ten minutes later he gratefully sipped on a mug of peppermint tea. Ms Ral dragged a chair up and regarded him over the rim of her own mug.

“So you said you haven't met your soulmate yet?” 

“No.” Jean blew on his tea. “I haven’t.” He felt a bit weird sitting in bed and talking to Ms Ral after all these years. He was a grown up - well, at least he was a college student and of age -, but her presence made him five years old again.

“So there is no one you really, really like, despite all differences that may be - no one who makes you feel warm and comfortable when they’re near, and who you’re terribly small and cold without when they’re away?”

He wanted to say no, but hadn’t he felt like this ever since he had left home for college? Cold, lonely and afraid?

“Back when you were in kindergarten, there was this boy… Eren was his name, but you frequently called him Barf Breath. Do you remember why?”

“He puked,” Jean heard himself say from very far away, taken aback by the change of topic. “He puked on his first day there.”

“Yes, And he ran into you in the restroom.” Ms Ral leaned forward. “What was the first thing that Eren Jaeger said to you?”

He stared at her, mouth hanging open. To imagine he had never connected the dots… sure, he had heard the words long before he could read the mark on his arm, but shouldn’t he have realized then? But in a way,he had. In a way, he had always known. 

“He said, ‘Move over.’”

Eren “Barf Breath” Jaeger was his soulmate. This obnoxious, obstinate whirlwind. This generous, idealistic and fearless pain in the ass.

**********

Driving the car to Eren’s college town was possibly the worst idea Jean ever had. He was weak with headache and pain in his entire body, teeth chattering from the chill he just couldn’t shake even with the heating on full blast. 

He had been an idiot for believing this was freshers flu - the separation from his soulmate made him ill. Now that he thought about it, for the last years he had felt increasingly worse the farther they grew apart. He had chalked it up to the feeling of attachment and jealousy he thought he wasn’t entitled to. They both had soulmates waiting for them, so how could he fall in love with Eren? How could he want him, crave for him? Blind and foolish they had both ignored what was clear for everyone to see.

Finally spotting what must be the building Eren now lived in, Jean stopped the car directly under a ‘no parking’ sign. May they write a fine a tow it away, he couldn’t care less. His entire body thrummed in excitement. Stairways and apartment numbers flitted by unnoticed.

Jean might feel like shit, but Eren looked even worse for wear. He opened the door in a wrinkled t-shirt. A stubble adorned his face, his hair was a tangled mess and his usually bright eyes were dull.

“What the - Jean, what are you doing-”

“Shh.” Jean put a finger to Eren’s lips. Slow and clear, he said: “Don’t barf on me.”

It took a second to sink in, then Eren’s startled eyes began filling with tears. Tenderly, he reached out to brush his fingers over Jean’s arm, the place where his soulmate mark sat.

“I had hoped - but I thought it couldn’t be…”

“Yeah, me too. We’ve both been fucking idiots, haven’t we?” Jean rested his forehead against Eren’s, warmth igniting in his chest once again after weeks of permafrost. The arms he’d been waiting for all his life embraced him, shaking, tears wet his face, and he didn’t know if they were Eren’s or his own, or if they were tears of joy, or laughter or relief.

“Missed you. Missed you so much, Boogerbrain.”

“Missed you too, Barf Breath.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's 3 am and this is unbeta'ed please show some mercy


End file.
